The Business Mindset: More Than Just a Hustle with Corinne McKay

Unlock the secrets of a rewarding career in translation and interpreting with our special guest, Corinne McKay. From her fascinating childhood across Southern California, New York, and New Jersey to her family's incredible feat of fostering over 110 animals since COVID, Corinne's journey is nothing short of inspiring. Discover how her childhood dream of being a poet evolved into a thriving career in translation and interpreting, complete with a humorous high school memory of translating French poetry.

Follow Corinne's unconventional path from teaching high school to becoming a full-time translator and later a court interpreter. Despite initial discouragement, she found her calling in the translation industry after a transformative year in France and a backpacking adventure across Asia. Learn about her pivotal decisions, like joining the Colorado Translators Association and the American Translators Association, and the life-changing advice and support that set her on the path to a successful freelance career.

Tune in for an episode brimming with wisdom on how to stand out in the translation and interpreting world. Corinne delves into the necessity of strong business skills, effective marketing strategies, and the invaluable role of strategic volunteering. Whether you're looking to specialize, build credibility, or simply get inspired by a seasoned professional’s journey, this conversation promises to leave you with a treasure trove of ideas and encouragement to take your career to the next level.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Brand the Interpreter, the podcast for
language professionals aroundthe world.
It's about time.
By the way, it's 75 years.
I've been the same old, sameold, day in and day out.
There was the Bernie Sandersevent, where we both interpreted
from behind the bar.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Wait, really I say go for it.
I second that.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Your new drive time podcast Brand the.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Interpreter, your stories are profession.
Hey, thanks for tuning in.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
It really struck me because the last year at the ATA
conference, I ran into a coupleof colleagues I hadn't seen
since before, covid, who saidweren't you thinking about going
to school for conferenceinterpreting?
And I'm like, girl, I'm alreadydone, you know.
So I think the thing is likethat time is going to go by and

(00:53):
then you're going to be sittingthere thinking like, ok, now
it's two years later and I couldhave been done with that stupid
program.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Or I could have pursued medical interpreting, or
I could, have, like, gone formy federal certification.
That you sort of tell yourselfit's too late.
You know what.
You're going to be sittingthere in three years thinking I
should have taken the federalexam, I should have gone for my
medical certification, becauseit is true that it doesn't take
very long for today to seem likea long time ago.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Welcome back Branded Bunch.
That community title, by theway, was inspired by Janika
Mayers, a former guest on thepodcast, who said that it would
be great to call the communitythe Branded Bunch, inspired by
the Brady Bunch.
Pretty creative, right.
So welcome back Branded Bunchto another episode of the Brand

(01:48):
the Interpreter podcast.
This is Mireya, your host.
Thank you for being a part ofthis small but mighty community
of language professionals.
As always, I am thrilled toshare yet another episode with
you, and today's episode we aregoing to cover a lot of
practical tips, so motivationalinsights, things about

(02:09):
discouragement, things aboutencouragement.
We're going to talk aboutmarketing and targeting direct
clients, leveraging networkopportunities and all sorts of
great stuff.
This was actually a really funconversation, so I'm hoping you
enjoy it and please don't forgetto share this episode, if you
do enjoy it, with a colleague,with a friend or anyone that you

(02:32):
feel might benefit from thetips and strategies that we'll
cover in today's episode.
And hey, since I'm already inthe asking mode, I ask that you
please rate and review, ifyou've not already, this podcast
on your favorite podcastingplatform so that others that are
looking for something just likethis can easily find it.

(02:53):
Plus, it's just a small way ofgiving back to the work that is
put into creating something likethis and, of course, a great
way to say thank you to theguests that volunteer their time
to share their stories here.
And don't forget to follow meon social media.
I've not been as active as Iwas in prior months just because
I'm still sort of learning howto juggle all the different

(03:15):
projects that are going on atthe same time, but nevertheless,
I do post from time to time,especially, of course, when
there's new episodes, so feelfree to follow me on LinkedIn or
Instagram, which is where I'mmostly active, or visit my
webpage atbrandtheinterpretercom if you'd
like to connect.
And now on with the show.

(03:36):
Corinne McKay has been afull-time freelancer since 2002,
doing French to Englishtranslation until 2018, and
adding French to Englishtranslation until 2018 and
adding French to Englishinterpreting after passing the
Colorado State Court InterpreterExam In 2020-2021,.
She earned a Master ofConference Interpreting from
Glendon College and now combinestranslation and interpreting.

(03:58):
She is based in Boulder,colorado, and served on the
board of the AmericanTranslators Association for
seven years, including as ATApresident from 2017 to 2019.
In addition to her owntranslation and interpreting
work, she runs the onlinetraining platform Training for

(04:19):
Translators and is the author ofhow to Succeed as a Freelance
Translator and How-to Guide withmore than 15,000 copies in
print.
So, without further ado, pleasehelp me.
Welcome Corinne McKay to theshow.
Corinne, it is such an honor tohave you here on the show today

(04:44):
.
Thank you so much for beinghere.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Oh, thank you for inviting me.
I'm thrilled to be here too.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
So excited actually for today's conversation.
I think it's going to obviouslybe jam-packed with so much
information for our listenershelpful, really great stuff,
hopefully even motivationalstuff, but I think, more than
anything just to get to know youa little bit more as the
individual behind the profession.
So I'd like to begin with thevery first question that I'd

(05:12):
like to ask all of the gueststhat come here on the show,
which has to do with taking usback in time a little bit.
If you would be so kind as tosharing potentially where you
grew up and what a fondchildhood memory is of yours,
sure.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
So I was actually born in Southern California, in
Claremont, which is sort of eastof Los Angeles, but we moved
around a lot.
When I was a kid we lived inSan Francisco and then basically
we did like six years inCalifornia, six years in Western
New York in a small town on theErie Canal and six years in New

(05:51):
Jersey.
So I always tell my parents,like isn't that the opposite
direction of the way you'resupposed to migrate?
You know everyone else goeslike from New Jersey to Southern
California.
But that's me and a favoritechildhood memory.
I guess I've been an animalperson my whole life.
Since the start of COVID myfamily has fostered 110 animals

(06:15):
for cats and dogs.
So 107 cats and three verymemorable dogs for a local
animal rescue organization andso, honestly, some of my
favorite.
I had a very happy childhoodbut some of my favorite memories
are hanging out with animals.
We always had cats and my momis from Texas and my

(06:37):
grandparents moved back to avery small town in Texas after
they retired and a lot of theirfriends and family had ranches
so we would go to their housesand see like the cows and
chickens and you know all kindsof stuff like that.
So I don't know.
I had a happy childhood, butthat's something that stands out
is spending a lot of time withanimals.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Wow, I mean that definitely is a lot of animals
being surrounded by them.
Did you ever envision yourselfgrowing up doing something with
animals?

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Oh yeah, I was always a crazy cat lady.
I've been a crazy cat lady mywhole life, so I think it's not
it's not really surprising thatI the fostering thing is kind of
new, but we had pet cats, youknow, my whole life before that.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
So, yes, what did you aspire to be when you grew up?
Do you recall A poet Really?
No way Did you dabble a lot inthat, or how did that.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
You know.
The crazy thing is that I sortof feel like in our, I feel like
the weird turn, like I was thatnerd who liked translating
French poetry in like 10th grade.
One of my most cringey memoriesof my school is sorry, this is
probably.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
We're probably going deeper into this than you want
to know I'm going to change thequestions to that now.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
But you know, when people ask, did you always want
to be a translator, interpreter?
You know language person.
So one of my cringiest memoriesis in 10th grade so second year
of high school for anyone who'snot from the US I had a really
great but very sort oftraditional old school English
teacher who made us memorizepoetry and recite it for the

(08:22):
class.
And I thought I'm going to doone better.
I'm going to translate someFrench poetry and memorize my
translations and perform themfor the class.
Oh, so, yes, oh yes, oh yes, Imemorized my translations and,

(08:45):
yes, did an interpretiveperformance of them for the
class.
So I was definitely alwaysdestined to be a word nerd, but
I think the thing that's kind ofcrazy is, to be honest, if
there's one thing I think thatI'm sort of known for if that's
the right way to put it, orthat's sort of unique about me
in the translation andinterpreting professions, is I
love talking about money.

(09:06):
You know, like I, I feel likeit's very beneficial to talk
about rates and income.
I write blog posts about howmuch money I make, which is kind
of unusual, I feel like, for atranslator or interpreter.
But the weird part is I feellike I always kind of envisioned
myself as like a starvingartist, like I'm going to write
and translate poetry and likelive in a shack with 12 cats or

(09:29):
something.
I see the connection, you know.
In reality I feel like now mythat my sort of like unique
angle on our profession is thebusiness side of freelancing.
Is running your freelancebusiness actually as a business
rather than as your starvingartist side hustle?

(09:51):
So that's the part that I feellike is sort of my career
trajectory was both expected andunexpected.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh, I love that so much.
Rather than the starving artistside hustle.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's probably more than you wanted to know.
Where did I grow up and whatwas my childhood like?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
I'm going to change my questions from now on to you
know rather than you know.
What did you aspire to be?
What was your?
What is your cringiest memory?

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Oh God, I'm really I know my parents have since moved
out of the house that I grew upin and I feel like I'm
incredibly thankful that all ofthose translations that I did
have since been landfilled.
You know, I'm like I'm gladbecause this was before
computers.
I graduated from high school in1989.
And so there's no electronicrecord of those.

(10:41):
They were handwritten only, andI'm actually incredibly
thankful that they have sincebeen dumpstered.
The memory is cringy enough,let alone if I had to go read
the poetry translations.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
I was going to go with it.
It would have been measurabledata from where you started to
where you're at now?

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, that's actually true.
I could see you know.
Hopefully there's been someprogress made in the ensuing
time period, but yeah, so takeus back then to the French
component.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
So were you raised bilingual?
When did French come into thepicture?
When did language enter yourlife?

Speaker 1 (11:19):
all Right, and that definitely.
I mean we're kind of jumpingaround here, but when I went, I
did a master's in conferenceinterpreting in the 2020-2021
school year and one of thethings that I said during that
year was I'm the only realFrench B in this group, meaning

(11:41):
I did not grow up bilingual.
I didn't go to bilingual school.
So, like most people in the US,I went to a good school system,
but none of the schools that Iwent to had any access to
foreign language classes untilseventh grade, which, for those
who aren't in the US, you'reabout 12 years old.
We had no foreign languageclasses at all until seventh

(12:04):
grade.
So I started taking French inseventh grade.
I loved it.
It was always my favoritesubject and luckily I went to a
school system with an excellentlanguage program.
And so, like my last year ofhigh school, we my entire I
still can't believe our teacherdid this my entire French class
went to France for a month.

(12:25):
This was our guy French teacher, our male French young man
French teacher took like 18teenage girls to France for a
month and we lived with hostfamilies and went to school
there and stuff like that.
And then they came back andwent to our school for a month

(12:47):
and I feel like for me that'sreally like what solid
Switzerland and um lived with afamily that didn't speak English
.
I mean, I think probably not tomake generalizations, but

(13:11):
probably like a lot of peoplewho went through the U S school
system Um, I had veryunrealistic ideas about how good
my language skills were.
So I had.
At that I was in third year ofcollege, third year of
university, so I had been takingFrench in school for like seven

(13:31):
years.
I went to France and I feltlike I couldn't do anything.
You know, like I went therethinking I'm going to kill it.
People aren't going to evenknow I'm American.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, and think I'm a local.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Oh my God Right, people are going to mistake me
for a local.
In reality I went there and waslike oh my gosh, I have a
splitting headache from tryingto understand what people are
saying and I can't say anything.
But that year I lived with afamily that didn't speak any
English and we went the programthat I did.

(14:06):
We did a couple of classes inthe part of the university that
taught French, but the teachersnever spoke English because the
people in the classes were fromeverywhere.
Like you could be from Poland,you know, and be learning French
.
It was not exclusivelyAmericans.
And then we did take a coupleof classes in the regular French
university and, like anyonewho's familiar with the European

(14:28):
school system, at least backthen, there's no interaction at
all.
The professor talks and youlisten, and the professors
didn't know who was French andwho was American.
So that was the real like trialby fire.
For me was just sort of jumpinginto the deep end of doing a
study abroad year in yeah, inFrance my junior year of college

(14:52):
.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So now you've got to share what was the favorite
memory there.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Oh my gosh, I mean I don't think that.
I don't think I could pin downjust one thing, because to me,
like, honestly, one of thethings that made me so I have
now a 21 year old daughter andone of the things that made me
the saddest during COVID I mean,aside from that, covid was a
horribly sad time was thinking.

(15:18):
For me, that study abroad yearwas, without a doubt, the
formative experience of my youngadult life and to think, you
know, like all of the people, mydaughter's age, I mean my
daughter just took gap yearsduring COVID, which now, in
retrospect, I think was a goodthing to do.
She just didn't, she justworked and didn't go to school.
But a lot of her friends whowere in school and trying to do

(15:41):
study abroad and they keptgetting canceled and they
couldn't go anywhere.
That I thought like to me Imean I, my family, were
travelers, like I will say thatI'm an only child and my parents
were travelers.
We went lots of places, but Ifeel like I lived a, you know,
pretty protected, only childlife and so this idea of like

(16:01):
deciding at four o'clock on aFriday afternoon let's go to
Rome for the weekend, you know,was something I had never.
I mean, I grew up in suburbanNew Jersey.
Like we traveled a lot ofplaces, but I grew up in the
suburbs of New Jersey.
I just think, really, that wholeexperience was what made me

(16:26):
realize like, wow, this is that.
I think one of my you knowdeepest values as a person is
seeing the world with your owneyes.
You know going and reallyexperiencing.
You know what is it like to besomewhere in 3D.
I mean, I think, particularlynow you know that you think, oh,
I can just watch it all onYouTube.

(16:48):
And I think that's really where,for me, that idea started,
because we just, I mean, we were20 years old, we just did these
crazy things.
Like we went to a tiny town inHungary because the world's
northernmost Turkish minaret isthere, the world's northernmost

(17:09):
Turkish minaret is there.
So we literally like rode atrain to go see this tower,
which is the world'snorthernmost Turkish minaret,
and we're like, yep, there it is.
So I just think you know it waskind of this.
Like you know, really seeingthe world with my own eyes for
the first time, combined withthe boundless enthusiasm of
being 20 years old, like why not?
You know, I mean your yourwhole outlook on life, which is,

(17:31):
you know, I mean, I'm anoptimist by nature, so I try to
sort of maintain some of that,but I feel like your whole opt,
your whole outlook on the worldwhen you're 20 years old is like
what else am I doing Exactly?

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, what else am I going to do, like, why not?

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Right, exactly Right.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Why not?

Speaker 1 (17:48):
just like you know, go to Prague for the weekend.
What else would I be doing?

Speaker 2 (17:54):
I love that and at some point you you go from poet
to translator maybe both youknow, aside from from that
project in school.
When did that occur?
When did that sort of shift, ormaybe even just the welcoming
of, hey, why not translation,you know, as a profession or

(18:15):
doing it professionally, whendid that enter into the picture?

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah.
So one of the reasons I think Ihave a particular interest in
writing and teaching andmentoring for beginning
translators is because I got alot of really bad advice when I
was young.
So I, like, I said I graduatedfrom undergrad in 1993.
And I told one of my professors, you know, I came back from

(18:41):
this year in France and like mylife is all worked out.
Know, I came back from thisyear in France and like my life
is all worked out, I want to bea translator because we took a,
I had to take a translationclass and I did a sort of
short-term translationinternship while I was there and
this professor said well, if Iwere you I wouldn't, because I
think, number one, you have tospeak more than one language.

(19:02):
And I'm like, what was she eventalking about?
Maybe interpreting for the UN?
I mean, you know that's nottrue.
And I mean really the onlyaspect of our profession that I
can think of where you quoteunquote have to have more than
one foreign language, is in theUN system, you know, is
simultaneous interpreters in theUN system, for example.

(19:24):
That's one reason I won't everbe able to work in the UN system
, not that I could pass theirtests, but also because you have
to have English, french andSpanish together, like that's
right.
But I don't think she knew that.
I think she was just pullingthis out of the air and said and
you know what else?
I just think computers aregoing to take all that over and

(19:45):
I'm like, literally it's 30years later and all of us are
still here.
So really I mean, but the hardpart was, what did I know?
You know what I mean?
Like I just thought, okay,no-transcript teaching is it for

(20:33):
me?
Or, you know, teachingfull-time high school?
I don't really feel like thisis it for me?

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, it's not you, it's me.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Right, yeah, right, exactly so, then.
But the real tipping pointwhich I actually think is true
for a lot of translators andinterpreters was I had a baby,
so my daughter was born in 2002.
And I thought like I wouldreally like to work from home
for at least a few years.
And what is it?

(21:00):
I mean I really started outwith, like what is a job where I
could work from home and useFrench?
I mean I really started outwith like what is a job where I
could work from home and useFrench, you know?
And so, really, like the firstday, I mean I tell people all
the time don't do what I did.
You know.
It's like my grandparents theones who my mom's parents, the
ones who lived in Texas gotmarried when my grandmother was

(21:21):
17 and my grandfather was 30.
And my grandmother would alwayssay, just because I did it
doesn't mean it was a good idea.
So that's what I tell peopleabout.
Starting out as a freelancer, Ihad done really minimal
translation work.
I did have a master's in Frenchliterature.
So in the ensuing time I did goto grad school at night for a

(21:43):
master's in French literature.
But the first day that Ithought of myself as a
translator.
I sat there at my kitchen tablewith my you know micro daughter
.
My daughter was, like you know,two months old and she was
asleep on my lap.
So I had my microscopic childasleep on my lap and I sat there

(22:04):
and, cold, called translationagencies on the telephone and
asked I know, you're like, oh myGod, you're like, just for a
little bit.
Yes, this is what I mean about.
Don't do what I did, right, Iliterally sat there with my
sleeping baby on my lap and,cold, called translation

(22:24):
companies on the telephone andasked what do I do to apply for
work for you with you as aFrench to English translator?
Now, in my defense, this was2002 and freelancing was a lot
less developed than it is now.
I mean, the thing is that, ofcourse, now I look through it

(22:45):
through the lens of theresources that we have today,
and the reality is the resourcesthat we have today didn't exist
.
Podcasts didn't exist, zoomdidn't exist.
Online courses, you know,didn't exist, even like I
started teaching an onlinecourse for beginning translators
in 2005.
And, to tell you the truth, Idon't even know what I called it

(23:08):
, because the term online coursedidn't exist.
So I mean, I guess it wasn'tthe worst way to start because
things worked out anyway, but Iwouldn't necessarily recommend
it to just, you know, build aplane while you're flying, which
is kind of what I did.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, no, but I think still.
I mean there's something thereand just to show you know just
that, that desire to, to doexactly what you have in mind
and you've set yourself to doand you know, baby on lap or not
, you're making some calls andyou're going to find out like,
just tell me what to do, whatdid you?
What did you find out Like whenyou were making these calls?

(23:49):
Like what was there was, asidefrom, I'm sure, it being so
tiresome with you're supposed tonap when the baby naps, but
Exactly Right.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
So I mean, basically all of them said send us your
resume, you know.
So, this is right, the commonthing that they were like send
us your resume, you know so,this is right, the common thing
that they were like send us yourresume.
So I can't really remember howI found out about translators
and interpreters associations,but for me that was really the
key was I joined the ColoradoTranslators Association and I

(24:19):
joined the American TranslatorsAssociation and for me, like I'm
such a huge proponent ofprofessional associations now,
because that was really like thetipping point, I mean I was
saying to someone else the otherday this sounds kind of
dramatic, but I don't honestlyknow if I would have made it as
a freelancer if it weren't forthe people who I met through

(24:41):
those groups, who were likehere's how you find clients,
here's how you decide how muchto charge, and some of them even
funneled me their overflow work, you know, would say to their
agency clients, I mean, which Ido.
Now you know what I mean.
Like I love meeting energeticnew French to English people who
are really good, because youthink like that's always great

(25:03):
to have somebody who doesn'thave a lot of work because
everyone else, you know who'sestablished is also busy, you
know.
So it's great having, you knowgood new people who have time in
their schedule and can take,you know, last minute projects.
So my first year that I was inbusiness, I applied to 400
translation companies.

(25:23):
I only did written translationat that time.
I applied to 400 translationcompanies out of the ATA
directory and then I think thereal turning point was I passed
the ATA certification exam whenI had only been freelancing
about six months and I thinkthat's like that's another you

(25:43):
know, sort of pro tip I wouldgive.
Is like when I started as aninterpreter, which is in 2018, I
didn't honestly think at thattime that I wanted to be a court
interpreter, but I thought,like to me, I want to get some
sort of credential.
And it see, I'm not a medicalperson, you know.

(26:03):
I think you kind of know if youare or you aren't.
I don't really enjoy being inhospitals or medical
environments.
I'm not a scientific person.
So I just thought, you know,I'd like to get some sort of
credential and studying for thecourt interpreter exam on my own
feels manageable.
You know, like you can buy theinterpreter's edge, which is the
main.
You know home study course thateverybody uses, it feels

(26:25):
manageable, and so I think forme, like the key, both when I
started as a translator and whenI added interpreting, was
trying to get some sort ofcredential right off the bat so
that people at least know youhave like some clue what you're
doing.
I mean that sounds crazy, butyou know what I mean that there
are so many people who are likeexclusively self taught.

(26:45):
Decided yesterday, you knowlike.
Oh, I grew up speaking Spanishwith my grandparents.
Maybe I could be an interpreter.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yes, that's that.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, that I think passing the ATA exam as a
translator translator and thenpassing the court interpreter
certification exam and bonus.
It turned out I love courtinterpreting and I have stuck
with it, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
I was just going to ask are you of the very few,
because I meet very few peoplethat actually love both sides of
the profession, like meaning,like you know, the translation
side and the interpreting?

Speaker 1 (27:21):
side I do.
I mean, I think that I did asmall amount of I guess what we
would call communityinterpreting when I first
started freelancing.
But the big roadblock for methen was logistical.
Like remote interpreting didn'treally exist, other than like a
small amount of over the phoneinterpreting.

(27:42):
I guess there were probablyphone interpreters then, but
nobody really talked aboutremote interpreting and I just
couldn't figure out how to makeit work with my schedule when my
kid was really little, so Idropped it.
So I dropped it and then in2018, I sort of had this like
now or never moment where Ithought like so I'm 52 now, so I

(28:06):
was like late mid to late 40sat that point and I thought, you
know, no one's forcing me to dothis, to pursue interpreting,
but if I want to do it, I needto get going.
You know like I need to reallystart making some steps here,
and so I studied with AthenaMatilsky If you haven't had her
on the show, you should, she's.

(28:29):
So she's a French and Spanishinterpreter French, spanish,
english interpreter and she hasa company called Athena Sky
Interpreting and she has coursesand one on one coaching,
largely for people who want totake court interpreting exams.
So the first thing I ever didshe and I we ended up going to
the same master's in conferenceinterpreting program years later

(28:50):
, which was kind of crazy, butshe was a year ahead of me, but
we ended up going to the sameconference interpreting master's
program.
But the first thing I ever didtoward interpreting was do a
consultation with Athena and askher like do you think this is
completely crazy?
Wasn't I supposed to do this 20years ago?

(29:11):
Like is this still possible?
Like do you think I'm nuts?
So no, and she was reallyencouraging and basically said
you know, I think you should atleast study for a year and try
the court interpreter exam.
Like you don't have to decidetoday what you're going to do
with this whole idea, but atleast you know it'll.

(29:31):
And she, I feel like, wassupportive but realistic.
You know, told me, if yourstart, like when I started
trying to learn simultaneous, Icouldn't even shadow because I
couldn't talk fast enough inFrench.
My spoken French was okay for atranslator Some translators
don't speak their sourcelanguages at all and I had the

(29:53):
advantage that I did, but I hadnever done any interpreting.
And so I feel like Athena wasvery supportive but very
realistic, like I said, you know, if you're starting from zero,
it'll probably take you around ayear to study for the court
interpreter exam.
And she was right.
But yeah, but that's how Istarted out, and now I would say

(30:15):
like I love doing both.
I feel like it like translatingmakes me a better interpreter
and interpreting makes me abetter translator, you know, and
there's a.
I also work for clients thatneed both translation and
interpreting.
So, it's worked out really wellfor me.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
They get a two for one with that one.
Well, sort of right, theservice maybe not necessarily we
wouldn't want to price it thatway, but most definitely so.
What was going on in terms ofthat internal struggle when you
know, questioning should I,shouldn't I, what, what?
What do you think was thatdoubt that you, you were really

(30:51):
like going back and forth withoh God, so many doubts.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
How many doubts do you want to know about?
Well, so the so.
But I mean I will say againlike whenever I talk about the
silver lining of COVID, I feelkind of horrible doing that,
because the reality is like amillion people in the US died
from COVID and I'm veryfortunate that no one in my
family was, you know, hugelyaffected.
But how it really shook out wasI passed the court interpreter

(31:20):
exam in 2019.
Court interpreted for basicallya year until COVID hit, and
here in Colorado we have areally surprising amount of work
for French.
I've interpreted about 100 daysa year in the Colorado courts
ever since I got mycertification, because we have a

(31:42):
lot of West African,french-speaking West African
immigrants.
So I court interpreted forbasically a year until COVID,
and then, lo and behold, youknow like I had always had in
the back of my head that I wouldlike to do a master's in
conference interpreting, butagain, I could not figure out
the logistics, like there's onlyfour programs in North America

(32:05):
that have French and I wanted todo another.
You know, tip I would give toyour listeners is, if you really
want to be a conferenceinterpreter, do a full master's
in conference interpreting, nota translation and interpreting
master's.
I feel like if you really wantto make a go of it as a
conference interpreter, do thewhole program for interpreting.

(32:26):
So if I wanted to do that,there were only four programs in
North America.
None of them are near where Ilive.
But okay, covid hits and all ofa sudden they start going
online and so I really sort ofthought, you know, I can sit

(32:47):
home and watch Netflix for fivehours a day.
This was like at the height ofthe lockdowns, right.
So COVID hits in March, august,you know, the summer is when
we're sort of all realizing likethis is not going to be over.
You know, the first few monthsof COVID, there was like this
hope, you know, of people saying, oh, things are going to be
normal by August, things aregoing to be normal by, you know.

(33:10):
And that's when we're realizinglike no, things aren't really
going to be normal until thereare vaccines, which is going to
take a while.
And so I really thought like,okay, everyone else I know is,
you know, watching five hours ofNetflix every day, and so I
could do that, or I could see ifI can do a conference
interpreting master's online,which is what I did.

(33:33):
So I took the.
I went to Glendon College,which is the French-speaking
campus of York University inToronto, canada, and so in
August of 2020, I passed theirexams to do the program in one
year, which, if any of yourlisteners are interested in a
conference interpreting master'sis a pretty common thing.

(33:53):
If most programs say that theirfull program is two years, but
a lot of them have what theycall an advanced entry option.
If you have some interpretingexperience, so I pass the exams
to do the, so you do just thesecond year of the program.
They take you straight into thesecond year of the program.

(34:14):
So I pass the exams to do that.
And so I did that program fromAugust through July.
We started in August and we gotour exit exam results in July
of 2021.
And I, I really, really like I.
I'm not, like, I'm not.
This sounds weird to say I'mnot the world's greatest

(34:34):
interpreter.
You know what I mean.
I'm solid as an interpreter,but I'm not a genius interpreter
, but I am crazy about studyingand preparation.
So and by that I don't mean tosay like everything about me is
amazing as an interpreter, it'snot.
I do fine, like I'm a goodinterpreter, but I'm not a
genius level interpreter.
But I am not about studying andpreparation nut, about studying

(35:05):
and preparation.
And so the passing rate for theexit exams my year at Glendon
was 50%.
There were six of us in theFrench group and three passed
and three failed, which ispretty normal for an IEAC level
program.
Like, if you do IEAC A-I-I-C isthe International Association
of Conference Interpreters, andif you do IEAC A-I-I-C is the
International Association ofConference Interpreters and if
you do a program that's approvedby IEAC, that's pretty typical.

(35:26):
Is that the?
Yeah, the exit exams are very,very rigorous.
But I just thought, you know,I'm going to give this thing
everything I have.
And despite the fact that Ithink I mean and I'm saying that
for your listeners who thinklike it's too late, I'm not good
enough, I should have done thiswhen I was 22.
You know that, despite having,you know, probably the least

(35:51):
interpreting experience ofanybody in the group, I just
thought like I'm gonna go atthis thing with everything I
have and I passed the exit examson the first try, and so, yeah,
and so then I startedconference interpreting and now
my sort of dream quote unquotewas to be 50% translation and

(36:12):
50% interpreting within a yearafter I graduated from Glendon
and I'm actually way ahead ofthat more like 65% interpreting
and 35% translation.
You know, to the point that Ithought like I have to start
actually looking for sometranslation work Because there's
so much interpreting work outthere and you know, like the

(36:35):
rest of us, I would rather workthan market that I have found
quite a bit of Frenchinterpreting work.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Wow, that's amazing.
I really love the fact that youknow you bring up the thought
that may potentially come up inmany people's minds when they're
considering maybe adding on oreven doing a change.
Or, you know, in the professionright, a change in in your
profession right, just like sortof like a mid career sort of

(37:07):
swap type of thing which is it'stoo late, right, I'm right,
this, this age, and it's justit's too late.
I should have done this.
You know, 20 years ago, Iremember one time when I had I
had someone like almost likeyour, your teacher, your
instructor, that that made thatcomment same way with me one day

(37:29):
.
It was, it was anothercolleague and and she basically
said you know, we're just tooold for that, you know, and it
was like I, I was in my latethirties, oh my God.
And that like hit me like I'm,like man, I'm already already
considered too old.
So why would I, why would Ithink about that?
But you know, luckily, you know, I don't know, other other

(37:52):
people inspired me and, you know, sort of helped me along the
way, and so I deviated from thatmentality.
But I think, even without theassistance of other people, even
as that negative feedback, thatwe do that to ourselves, even

(38:16):
right, just the thought of it'stoo late.
So I love that you mentionedthat.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, and the thing is that I think like I'm an you
know, I'm an eternal optimist,but it is too late for some
things.
Like, for example, there were acouple of people in my group at
Glendon who were in the Frenchcohort, who were say like early
to mid-30s, who said you knowFrench cohort, who were say like

(38:42):
early to mid-30s, who said youknow, my next goal is to add
Spanish and try to go for the UNexams.
And I thought you know what?
I'm 49.
It's not happening.
So I think it's.
So I think it's.
I mean, I guess I could.
But to me I just thought I putso much work into maintaining my
French already because, like Idon't live in an area with a
French speaking population, Idon't use French in my daily

(39:05):
life.
I put a lot of work intomaintaining my French anyway.
And so I think you have to berealistic that maybe there are
some things that the door iskind of closed for you.
The door is kind of closed foryou, but for most things.
I mean, when I sort of ran thisidea by people like do you
think that I'm nuts, you know,doing this grad program when I'm

(39:25):
almost 50?
I have a really funny friendwho said does your brain still
work?
I mean, that's really the onlyquestion.
But I think that the best sortof like life coaching advice
that people gave me which Ithink is something we hear a lot
, but it's really true, the timeis going to go by anyway.
You know, like when you say I'mgoing to be, you know, I

(39:48):
thought like geez, we're goingto the first round of the first
try at the exit exams is in Juneand I'm going to turn 50 in
September.
And one of my friends said 50in September.
And one of my friends saidyou're like, god willing, you're
turning 50, no matter what,like I hope, as long as you

(40:10):
don't get hit by a bus, you'returning 50 anyway, and so you
may as well make the most of thetime.
And so I think you really haveto have that you know attitude.
That right, if there is, Iwould, I would put.
You know, adding a language issomething that you may really
want to think like is that whereI want to put my energy?
It's not that it's too late,but is that where I want to put
my energy?

(40:30):
But I think when you tellyourself, oh, it's not worth
pursuing this goal that I reallywant to pursue?
Sure it is, because the time isgoing to go by anyway and you
will have done something with it, you know, instead of sitting
there thinking.
You know, it's like I saw thismeme the other day that said in

(40:50):
not very long today is going toseem like a long time ago, like
that's kind of woo-woo.
But it really struck me becausethe last year at the ATA
conference, I ran into a coupleof colleagues I hadn't seen
since before, covid, who saidweren't you thinking about going
to school for conferenceinterpreting?
And I'm like, girl, I'm alreadydone.

(41:12):
So I think the thing is like,you know, the like that time is
going to go, go by, and thenyou're going to be sitting there
thinking like, okay, now it'stwo years later and I could have
been done with that stupidprogram.
Exactly that you sort of tellyourself like no, it's like not
necessarily I'm too old, butlike it's too late, I'm not.

(41:44):
You know that.
You think you know what.
You're going to be sittingthere in three years thinking I
should have taken the federalexam, I should have gone for my
medical certification, becauseit is true that it doesn't take
very long for today to seem likea long time ago.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, and then, and then it's the worst, because
then we're like, maybe, if Iwould have, is that could have
right, like yeah, and then it'slike you're beating yourself up
again, for a different reasonthis time, though, but I also
feel almost, corrine, like whathappens is that we it's almost
like we are coming up withreasons why we should not.

(42:16):
Maybe we fear going back toschool, or maybe we fear that,
you know mid-career change or orjust adding something extra
that is going to, you know, taketime away from you know our
usual schedule, or whatever.
We might be coming up with justreasons why not to.
Is that imposter syndrome?

(42:37):
That's like why do you want to?
You know like yeah, you'retotally right, it's going to
take you too much time.
You're gonna be 50 by the timeyou're done.
Like, like, yes, it ends there,or something.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
So, true, I love this conversation and I actually
want to transition now intogetting into the conversation
about once you started and youhad all of this and bringing in
direct clients and sort of whatare, what were those strategies
that you figured out along theway, or maybe that somebody
suggested and you sort ofcreated or made your own in

(43:11):
order to be able to bring insome business, because, as you
mentioned, when you firststarted, freelancing wasn't
necessarily something that was,you know, as buzzword as it is
nowadays.
So where, where did you begin?
What was that process like foryou?

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Yeah.
So I think that one of thethings that I always accepted
that I think really helped mewas, like you have to market a
lot to have a successfulfreelance business.
So one of the things I made alot of mistakes as a beginning
freelancer, but one of thethings that I think I did
correctly was every second thatI didn't have paying work, I

(43:51):
marketed, you know.
So this was when my daughterwas a baby.
So if I thought, you know, I'mtrying to work, I don't know 15
hours a week, if I only have twohours of paying work, I'm
literally going to sit there andmarket for 13 hours.
And so I think that that's, andI think now there's a ton more
people freelancing.

(44:12):
You know there's a lot of workout there, but there's a ton
more people freelancing.
And I think one of the thingsthat we're really going to see
in the whole, like machinetranslation and artificial
intelligence you know boomthat's going on now is there's a
huge market for humantranslators and interpreters,
but you really have to have goodbusiness skills.
So the thing I think is reallydifferent is when I talk to

(44:36):
translators and interpreters whoare like a generation ahead of
me.
I talked to someone the otherday.
These are people who are now,you know, approaching retirement
age.
I talked to someone the otherday who said I started as a
translator in 1989, and I had anAOL email address and a phone
number and in six months I hadso much work that I had to hire

(44:57):
another translator to work withme.
And you're like, yeah, itdoesn't work like that anymore.
So I think that's sort of onething that I had going for me is
that I just thought, like thequote unquote right amount of
marketing is the amount ofmarketing that brings you the
amount and quality of work thatyou want.

(45:17):
Right, like sitting therethinking I'm doing all this
marketing and I'm not gettingany good work, well, like the
universe doesn't feel sorry foryou and send you to work.
Then you know, like, right,like the pity party.
I mean you can have yourinternal pity party, but the
pity party doesn't bring you anywork.

(45:38):
You just have to keep marketinguntil you have the amount
quality of work that you have.
And I think I mean another bigadvantage is that I still really
believe that there is tons ofgood translation and
interpreting work out there.
I mean the example that Ialways give people is if my
21-year-old who is, you know,sadly going to school to be a
mechanical engineer much to mydismay, but if she wanted to be,

(46:05):
she speaks not bad Spanish andif she wanted to be a translator
or interpreter, I wouldactually feel quite positive
about that and I would have noproblem paying for her to go to
school to do that, although Iwould tell her the profession
has changed a lot since Istarted.
You know like things havereally changed since I started.
But I think, particularly ifyou want to go for direct

(46:27):
clients, you have to presentyourself as a business person.
You know, you have to presentyourself as an expert who they
can trust, like I think thething that I feel like is the
biggest compliment from my owndirect clients is they say when
we're working with you, we knowit's going to be done right.

(46:47):
Like when we're working withyou, we know that we can just
exhale because we know that thejob is going to be, you know,
done right.
And I think you have theadvantage because I work with.
So for translation, I work withalmost only direct clients,
almost no agencies, and forinterpreting, I work with some

(47:08):
direct clients and mostlyagencies and I think like for
your listeners, the advantageyou have with interpreting is
people, even if they don't speakyour other language, they know
good interpreting when they hearit, because it gives everyone
this feeling of confidence.
You know, like I was doing.

(47:28):
I was interpreting the otherday for a podcast, so we're
doing I have to kind of obscurethe details, but it's a current
events podcast that doesinterview interpreting and the
podcast host said to me you know, when we work with you, I feel
like I'm getting every singleword.
You know, I really feel likesometimes I forget that we're

(47:51):
doing this through aninterpreter, because you're
confident and expressive and theperson you're interpreting for
is sort of nodding along likeyes, yes, yes, that's exactly
what I meant.
And so the thing is that I feellike if you really want to be
in the direct client market,that's where that's the image I
mean, not just that's the imageyou need to project.

(48:13):
That's the kind of service thatyou need to provide, that you
can't just sort of show up andbe like I'm here because the
agency told me to be here.
Right right, exactly.
And so and I think you knowjust as far as like tangible
things, that I think you bothneed to be actively marketing.

(48:35):
So I do a lot of marketingthrough email and LinkedIn
because I like to do sort oflike fast, simple stuff that I
can do in.
You know, I mean today, likeLinkedIn just switched a couple
months ago to you can only sendfive personalized connection
requests per month.
The rest are you can't.
You know where it says like doyou want to add a note with your

(48:56):
connection?
You can only do that to fivepeople a month now and they cut
you off unless you pay forLinkedIn premium.
And just today I was actuallywaiting in the waiting room for
a remote interpreting assignmentand I thought, ooh, I haven't
used my five connection requeststhis month and it's, you know
that's a waste to not use them.
So I went in and like reallyquickly found you know five

(49:16):
people that I wanted to connectwith and just said here's who I
am, I'd love to connect andfired those off.
So you need to do that.
And then you also need to havesome sort of online presence
that they can find you Like thispodcast.
They actually found me onLinkedIn.
I don't find LinkedIn to be likesuper tremendous source of
direct clients, but you neverknow, because this podcast,

(49:38):
which I love interpreting forit's so interesting, they found
me on LinkedIn.
So I think you need to be doingboth of those and I think you
need to be realistic, that ifyou don't want any sort of
online presence, if you don'twant to be actively marketing,
then you're going to be limitedto just working with agencies,
which is okay.
You can.
You know no one's forcing youto work with direct clients.

(50:01):
But if you want to be under theradar, then I think that you
need to only work with agencies.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
My goodness, there was like so much there, and I
said it one time.
I made the mistake of saying itin front of my business coach

(50:36):
and what I said was I've triedeverything.
And then she replies back likebut did you, though, Everything?
You've tried everything.
I'm like, okay, maybe there's afew more things.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Perfect response, right Bouncing it back to you.
Really, really, there isnothing.
There are no more clients onthe face of the earth who could
use you, who don't know aboutyou.
Really, you've done it all.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I'm like, okay, maybe not everything.
All right, let's break it down.
What should I do, Right?
So then your wheels startturning, as do we get so stuck
in this, in this moment of uh,I'm not seeing it come back.
And what's funny is like Ithink that that's another
speaking of mindset shifts iswhen we're thinking about

(51:19):
pushing stuff out, when we'remarketing.
We have to sort of shift fromthis mentality.
Would you agree that the momentwe send it out, it's going to
come right back to us when, inactuality, you might post
something on LinkedIn and youmight not get something or
someone responding to that formaybe a couple of months?

(51:41):
I know that there's been peoplethat have connected with me on
something that I posted orpushed out or years later.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
right that they come back.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
And I'm like, oh, wow , that's still out there.
Huh, it's so true, so it's, butit's.
It's the consistency ofcontinuing to be out there uh,
pushing out stuff, right.
You also talked about thatonline presence, which, my gosh,
if.
If you look up the definitionof personal branding, you'll
probably see Corrine's picturein there, because look up her

(52:13):
name and you're going to see theperfect example of an online
presence or a digital footprintor a personal brand.
If someone says I want to seeif this interpreter is legit and
types her name, I mean the veryfirst page you'll find stuff.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yeah, you'll find stuff Good to go, we're good.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
No further information is needed.
But, for instance, you give theexample of marketing could be
something like going on LinkedInand as easy as sending out
those five connections.
What other strategies, when yousay marketing, would you say
would be a good for someonethat's starting, would be a good
approach to marketingthemselves?

(52:54):
Because I think thatpotentially, even those that are
doing maybe like a mid-careershift you're thinking about
marketing and you are thinkingabout me going door to door,
leaving my, my business card attheir, at their door.
Remember you could go to theoffices and leave my little
notary business.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
What marketing strategies?

Speaker 2 (53:15):
are you suggesting at this point that individuals can
approach?

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Yeah.
So I think the main things thatI would do is I think,
realistically, you're going towork with you're probably going
to work with some agencies atleast, like I think it's pretty
rare to meet a translator orinterpreter who says that they
work with zero agencies I meansome people, but I think
probably you want to at leastand that then it's just a matter

(53:42):
of going to their website anddoing what they tell you to do.
So go to the agency's websiteand they'll have a link that
says, like careers, join theteam, freelance for us, you know
opportunities.
Just do what they tell you todo, but follow up three to six
times.
We all fantasize that we'regoing to submit these agency
applications and, like 10minutes later, the phone's going

(54:02):
to ring and they're going tosay oh, we have this juicy
project for you.
When can you start?
It doesn't work that way.
So I don't know where theonline applications go, but you
barely ever get a response tothat.
You're probably going to haveto email them, find people.
I think hopefully everyoneknows that when you go on
LinkedIn, if you put the name ofany company into the search box

(54:26):
and then you click people,it'll show you every person on
LinkedIn that has that company'sname in their profile.
So go in and what I do isconnect with some of their
project managers and say, Iapplied on your website.
Could you let me know whatwould be the next steps?
You have to ask them a question, right?
Don't just say like hi, Iconnected on your website.

(54:46):
They'll be like, great, and itends there, right.
So say, right, could you let meknow the next steps?
And I think with agencies, itis reasonable to nudge them
until they tell you yes or no.
Like you don't want to do thatwith direct clients because you
don't know if they need you andit can be aggravating, right?
And you don't want to be thatperson who's like hi, it's me

(55:08):
again, hi, it's me again.
And they're like I would haveresponded if we need you and we
don't.
But with agencies, I do thinkit's fair to keep nudging them
until they tell you yes or no.
And like I just actually didthis to a project manager
yesterday that I said this is myfinal follow-up, you know I'm

(55:28):
contacting you once more aboutthe projects that we talked
about.
I'm still very interested, butif I don't hear from you, I
won't contact you again.
But I think that you have to be.
It feels so pushy and cringy,but agencies get so many
applications that I feel likeyou really need to follow up
until you either get a responsefrom them or follow up at least

(55:50):
three times.
I know that sounds painful andit is.
Follow up at least three timesand tell them like this is the
final time that I'm going tofollow up.
Let me know if you'reinterested and if I don't hear
from you, I won't follow upagain.
Now with direct clients, it'smore subtle.
So first of all, you have tohave some sort of specialization

(56:11):
, because you don't know who tomarket to.
I know that interpreters areless specialized than
translators.
It's pretty rare to meet aninterpreter who's like I only do
medical devices specialize.

(56:32):
But let's say for aninterpreter that you thought I
want to work with immigrationlaw firms, like that would be.
I feel like for your listenerswho are court certified, that a
pretty good first step.
One thing that I always tellpeople is, with your first round
of direct clients targetclients who have work that you
are like I could do this in mysleep.
You don't want to feel stressedby the work that they want you

(56:54):
to do if you've never workedwith a direct client before you
know.
But you want to think like youknow.
Interpreting for immigrationlaw firms or doing depositions
you know would be like you needto do some studying about what a
deposition is.
I don't know if you'veinterviewed Judy Jenner.
I have all kinds of ideas foryou about what a deposition is.
I don't know if you'veinterviewed Judy Jenner.
I have all kinds of ideas foryou, okay.
So Judy Jenner periodicallyteaches a class called Anatomy

(57:16):
of a Deposition.
Take Judy Jenner, if you haveyour court certification.
Take Judy Jenner's class,anatomy of a Deposition.
She's going to teach it at theNogit conference that's coming
up.
Learn what a deposition is.
But I'm just trying to give areal world example that your
listeners could relate to thatthey think like, okay, I've been

(57:37):
doing court interpreting forfive years.
I feel like a good first stepfor me would be interpreting for
immigration law firms or justregular law firms that have
foreign language depositions.
So do stuff where you think Iam not going to be stressed by
the work, but, like I'veinterpreted for witness
testimony, like up and down incourt, like I am not stressed

(57:59):
out by you know what this workis going to consist of.
And then what you want to do islet's take immigration law
firms.
They're really easy to findright, because law firms also
belong to a million barassociations.
You know you can look forimmigration law associations
your local bar association andthen go to the law firm's
website and lots of them havecontact information right there

(58:22):
and you're going to email in asmall firm, you could email the
attorneys in a bigger firm,maybe one of the paralegals or
the admin people.
You know of the paralegals orthe admin people.
If the law is like three peoplejust email the attorneys, but
if the law firm is like 300people, the attorneys aren't
going to write back to you.
You need to contact maybe oneof their paralegals or an admin

(58:44):
person.
The email needs to be short 125words or less.
So if anybody, if you've neverdone warm email marketing before
, I'd really recommend Ed Gandia.
His last name is G-A-N-D-I-A.
He's like the guru of warmemail marketing and wrote a book
about, ebook about it.
He has a podcast and stuff.
So he says 125 words and here'swhat I would say something like

(59:09):
if I were writing to you.
I'd say you know, dear AttorneyPerez, I'm a French-English
interpreter.
I'm a court-certifiedFrench-English interpreter in
the area.
I came across your website whileresearching immigration law
firms in New York.
I'm wondering if there might bea need for a French-English
interpreter to interpret foryour clients.

(59:30):
Would you be the correct personto speak with about offering my
freelance services?
Again, don't say let me know ifyou need me.
Don't let the email just likerun off into death.
You know, say would you be thecorrect person to speak with
about offering my freelanceservices, so that hopefully
they'll reply to you or say, oh,I'm copying our HR person.

(59:53):
Or like, oh, our other, thisother attorney handles our
foreign language matters andthey might need you and you're
probably going to have to dothat 50 to 100 times before you
get a client out of it.
You're not going to.
I mean, maybe you will emailsix law firms and have them.
You know will email six lawfirms and have them.

(01:00:14):
You know, come back at like, ifyou research it really
carefully, maybe.
But for example, I think foryour listeners who are court
certified, starting out withimmigration law firms and also
agencies that hire courtreporters, I've gotten quite a
bit of deposition interpretingwork through agencies that hire
court reporters because theyhave to use a court reporter for

(01:00:36):
a deposition and it's usuallylive for whatever reason.
They don't do.
You know?
Most of court is just recorded.
Now, in my experience they onlyuse human court reporters in or
at least in the Colorado courtsonly for high-profile stuff,
like if it's a motions hearingor a trial or something, you
have a live court reporter, butthe rest of the time they just
record it.
But every deposition I've everdone has had a live court

(01:01:00):
reporter and I think that a lotof times the agency that
provides the court reporter willbe asked like do you have
referrals to any courtinterpreters that we could use
because we have this foreignlanguage deposition?
So that's an example of how Idon't know.
Do you do medical, maria?
I don't.
I'm not coming up with.
I don't do any medical.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Very little, but my main, speaking of specialization
, my specialization is K through12 public education.
Oh gotcha, yeah, yeah, which.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
I feel like education is kind of hot right now, like
now you guys have your ownassociation.
And you know, I feel likeeducation used to be sort of
lumped in with community andthat's an area where people
interpret and translate.
Because take something like anIEP, you know, for your
listeners who interpret andtranslate, we've got to

(01:01:53):
translate the IEP into Spanishfor the parents and then we've
got to interpret for the IEPmeeting between the you know,
district special ed staff.
So that also that is like Ifound for me, as someone who
enjoys interpreting andtranslating, that immigration
stuff is a good niche to be in,because they often need

(01:02:14):
interpreting and translation andthey're excited to find someone
who does both.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Yes, oh yes, Especially those that aren't.
They're like oh, we got to gofind someone now and yeah you
position yourself as as somebodythat can do both things, like
you said earlier, right, can doboth things.
Like you said earlier, right?
Uh, two birds, one stone, yes,I mean, you gave us so much.
Definitely, first and foremost,of course, getting out there.
Just just start, just gettingyourself out there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
You have to put yourself out there.
I know you don't want to.
I feel you.
I know you don't want to andyou have to it's just there's no
, there's no way.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
How are people going to know about you if you don't
get out there?
Right?
So you've got to get out there.
You've got to follow up.
You've got to considerspecializing in something I
liked earlier when you said youknow, if it's an interest, that
you have something that you like, you know something that you're
interested in, maybe throwingthat in as potentially something
that you could specialize inand not want to do, not want to

(01:03:15):
do it just because you feel likeyou, you have to.
You're supposed to like themedical piece, like you said
earlier.
Right, if you're not?

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
that's not.
There's a ton of work formedical interpreting but I'm
just not.
I don't like being in hospitals.
I don't have a strong science.
I doctor's offices kind offreaked me out, like I know that
I'm not.
You know, I'm not cut out to bea medical interpreter.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
For sure.
If you don't, I mean if youdon't like it, there's just,
there's no point, I suppose, inpursuing it and putting so much
hard work into something thatyou're just like eh, I don't
really like that, Right.
So you look for something thatyou like, you specialize in that
and then making thoseconnections, like those very
direct connections.

(01:03:54):
I think that that's somethingthat many, many just get sort of
tunnel vision and say, well, ifI want to go into this area,
then I should only be marketingto this specific client or this
specific audience, when in factthere's so many other ways to
get to that specific audience,such as what you mentioned
earlier, right, the, the, the,the individuals, that, um,

(01:04:16):
what'd you call it?

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
The, the transcribers uh court reporters yeah, so
like for you guys who doeducation, I would think that
there are probably, for example,educational consultants who do
seminars, and so then you golike would you be interested in
offering that in Spanish?

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Yes, you know what I mean.
Like, I just think that are outthere for special education,
yeah, and all I mean for youguys who do Spanish educational
interpreting, all that stuffshould be in Spanish, you know.
Yeah, so I feel like such ahigh need for that too.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
That when you think about direct clients, lots of
people sort of think like, oh,so I'm supposed to like cold
call some Fortune 500 company.
No, think about what's likedirectly adjacent.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Yes, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
That you sort of go like huh, I wonder if you know
some of the sort of consultanttype people that I work with on
these IEP projects.
They probably have their ownside consulting businesses and
maybe they could use me Like Idon't.
I mean, I don't know whetherthat's a great example, because
your contract with the schooldistrict might prohibit that,
but I'm just saying as abusiness idea, you know, going

(01:05:27):
like right, I worked with thisoccupational therapist who does
seminars for parents of specialneeds children and maybe she
would be interested in doingthose in Spanish or having a
recorded, at least having arecorded version, and I'll do
the Spanish voiceover.
Like think you know what isjust like one step removed from
what I'm doing now.
Don't think like, oh, so nowI'm cold calling scholastic

(01:05:50):
books or whatever.
You know what I mean.
Like, no, think, like what sortof one step removed from what
you do now.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
Yeah, and thinking outside the box is just really
what it sounds like and there'sso many different avenues to
take just to get to that desiredoutcome and I think we just
sometimes get in our own waywith you know our thought
process and and not really goingout there to asking the
question.

(01:06:18):
I liked earlier too, that youasked a couple of people what
are your thoughts?
What are you thinking People inthe profession that could give
you that direct uh, you knowthat direct advice, that that
you can do something with, andsort of just inspired to see
maybe spring up some ideas ofsomething different, different
approaches.
I mean we can go on and on aboutthis topic because there's so

(01:06:40):
much to learn, but you guys,corinne does masterclasses as
well.
You know she has books outthere.
She's an author, she has booksout there on on these topics and
you know, I really encourageyou to to connect with her.
When we talk about connections,connect with her.
If you don't have that LinkedIn, I don't know why, after four

(01:07:02):
years of trying to convince youall that you need to have a
LinkedIn profile.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Send me.
I'll connect with any of you.
Send me a connection request.
I'm there.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
Before we go, just one last question for you.
If you could give anybodythat's starting in this business
a piece of advice, or a couplepieces of advice, what
recommendations would you giveto them as they start their
journey, or maybe evenmid-career shift, into this
profession?
What would you like torecommend, aside from everything

(01:07:36):
else you've already given us?

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
So one thing I was thinking of when you were just
talking, maria, is here's one ofmy new mindset things is, when
you think about marketing,approach it from the perspective
of where can I be useful?
Who should I be serving?
Who really needs me but theycan't use my services because

(01:08:00):
they don't know me.
Because I think then when youmarket, it feels more like I
don't want to say like treasurehunt.
But here's an example let's sayyou're an educational
interpreter and you think, likeI'm super passionate about this
work and you know what One ofthe speech therapists who I work
with does this whole webinarseries on supporting your child

(01:08:22):
at home if they're in speechtherapy.
Like what can we do at home tosupport our kid who's in speech
therapy?
And you know what so manySpanish-speaking parents could
benefit from that.
So I'm going to try to partnerwith this person and do those
webinars for Spanish-speakingparents.
And that's an example ofsomething where I think you're,
instead of thinking like well,here goes another round of spam

(01:08:43):
to people who don't want to hearfrom me, that you're thinking
this is hugely useful, this ishugely helpful, like my skills
are the key between thisperson's expertise and these
parents who are reallystruggling, you know.
And then I think you approachmarketing with this mindset of
like service and usefulness.

(01:09:03):
That is a lot more appealingthan like here goes another
round of spam, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
Yeah, that's great.
I had someone on the podcastthat called that strategic
volunteering, so you're verystrategic about right when you
volunteer, that time in a waythat you know is going to
benefit both sides benefitingyou, because you're keeping up
with that and you just neverknow that social worker might

(01:09:29):
say hey to school district orsomething else.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
I have this fabulous interpreter.
Right, I have this fantasticinterpreter who you got to use.
Yes, right, yeah, totally.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
It has been such a privilege.
I knew our conversation wasgoing to be great, just because
you were going to be here andeverything that you had to share
.
It just time flew by so fastand there was like so many other
things we could have touched on, but I know that you also offer
so many different platforms andinformation I should say on
different platforms whereindividuals can come back and

(01:10:03):
connect with all of the greatinformation that you have to
share with regards to theprofession.
So I just want to say thank youso much once again for being
here with us today and sharingyour knowledge and your
experience and, of course, yourstory.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thanks for invitingme.